Let Me Finish!

I hit the pause button.  Carolyn and I were discussing all future furniture projects and came to the topic of what color things should be, should we pick one color per room or mix and match whatever?  Is beige the new black?

Since the sample photos in the Stickley catalog don't really tell you anything, we drove out to the Stickley show room and moseyed around pointing at colors we liked, seeing them in person on real furniture.  While I was taking a few photos (you're allowed to, and encouraged to do so.  Stickley welcomes woodworkers), one of the customer service reps walked over and introduced herself and asked if we needed anything.

I explained that I'm a hobbyist furniture maker and was curious to see in person which finishing color we prefer and if she would be so kind as to walk around with us and identify the different colors so we would know which was which.  After a few seconds she said "Let me just go get George.  I'll be right back."

George used to work in the factory, he knew exactly what we wanted to know.  "Aurora is Minwax Early American under Minwax Dark Walnut.  If you want it darker, do a second coat of Dark Walnut."  No, that's not what Stickley uses, but it's a close approximation.  Good to know.

But the whole reason for this fieldtrip was so that I could investigate aniline dyes and Jeff Jewitt's Stickley reproduction recipes.

George asked if we wanted to bring some stain samples home with us.  Yes!  He went into the back room and brought out Aurora and Onondaga - the two Carolyn and I invariably preferred as we walked around the show room.  No charge, free to take home, awesome.

The value of having a direct example of a complete Stickley finish on actual white oak is a very valuable tool.  Once we got home we held the samples up to the furniture I've made and finished with  Minwax English Chestnut.  It turns out the color we've preferred falls exactly between Aurora and Onondaga.  Onondaga is a bit too red and Aurora isn't quite red enough.

Enter Aniline Dyes

This led us to Jeff Jewitt's Stickley Recipe Sample #4  - not quite Onondaga, not quite Aurora.  I ordered 4oz. of Brown Mahogany TransFast Dye and drove over to Marty's Barn Cellar to pick up some General Finishes Candlelite Gel Stain and Arm-R-Seal Satin.  

While waiting for the dye to arrive in the mail I resawed a good sized sample of quarter sawn white oak so that we've have a good visual for how the finish plays out on a large enough scale and studied the finishing process Jeff recommends and compared it with Glen D. Huey's Finishes that Pop.  While Glen uses HVLP (another topic I'm currently investigating), their finishing schedules are almost identical.  Glen and Jeff (in his Hand Applied Finishes DVD) mention that for figured woods they'll add some Boiled Linseed Oil before the sealer coat to increase the depth and highlight the decorative figure.  

It's nice when research coincides.

My Personal Blend of Glen D. Huey's & Jeff Jewitt's Finishing Schedule

1. Sand to 120 grit
2. Wet with Distilled Water, let dry 2 hours
3. Sand to 180 grit (de-whiskering)
4. Vacuum all of the dust out of the pores
5. Mix 3/4 tsp Brown Mahogany TransFast dye to 1 cup hot distilled water
6. Apply dye evenly to wood, let soak for 2 minutes, add more dye to areas that soak it up quickly
7. Wipe dry, let dry for 8 hours
8. Flood surface with Boiled Linseed Oil for 5 minutes, add more oil to areas that soak it up quickly
9. Wipe dry
10. Let dry for 4 or 5 days, repeatedly wiping it dry as more oil wicks to the surface
11. Apply 1 coat of Zinsser Bullseye Sealcoat - Marty's Barn Cellar doesn't stock General Finishes Seal-a-Cell.  Glen D. Huey would use Shellac, but he uses Shellac as his topcoat as well and the can of shellac specifically said not to use shellac as a sealer coat under polyurethanes, so I grabbed the Sealcoat instead.  Better safe than sorry.
12. Let dry for 4-5 hours
13. Scuff sand with 320 grit
14. Rub with Grey Fiber Pad - I didn't have maroon
15. Rub on a heavy coat of General Finishes Candlelite Gel Stain, making sure to get it into all of the pores
16. Wait for it to haze over slightly and wipe off at 45 degree angles to the grain with clean paper towels
17. Let dry for 24-48 hours - if you wipe with a clean cloth and stain comes off, it's not dry enough, wait longer
18. Apply 1 coat of Arm-R-Seal
19. Let dry for 24 hours
20. Scuff sand with 320 or 400 grit
21. Apply 1 final coat of Arm-R-Seal
22. Let dry 24 hours
23. Optional:
1. Add a third coat of Arm-R-Seal if you want
2. Let dry 24 hours
3. Rub with Maroon Pad to an even haze
4. Apply paste wax with steel wool
5. Let haze over
6. Buff to an even sheen

The Results

I did 8 separate variations, stopping at #22 above.  

• #1A: Dye + Boiled Linseed Oil + Gel Stain
• #1B: Dye + Boiled Linseed Oil + Gel Stain
• #1C: Dye + Boiled Linseed Oil  + Gel Stain
• #1D: Dye + Boiled Linseed Oil + Gel Stain
• #2A: Double Concentrated Dye + Boiled Linseed Oil + Gel Stain
• #2B: Double Concentrated Dye + Boiled Linseed Oil + Gel Stain
• #2C: Double Concentrated Dye + Boiled Linseed Oil  + Gel Stain
• #2D: Double Concentrated Dye + Boiled Linseed Oil + Gel Stain

The Ingredients

The No Boiled Linseed Oil Group

Left Top: #2D (no gel stain, no BLO)

Left Bottom: #2C (no BLO)

Right Top #1D (no gel stain, no BLO)

Right Bottom #1C (no BLO)

The Boiled Linseed Group

Left Top: #2B (no gel stain)

Left Bottom: #2A

Right Top #1B (no gel stain)

Right Bottom #1A

Compared to the Official Samples

Aurora, #1A, Onondaga, #2A

You can really see the difference in the pores that don't have any gel stain added - they stand out as whitish and dull.  Adding boiled linseed oil really does add an appreciable amount of depth and luster to the quarter sawn figure.  And finally, Jeff Jewitt's recipe is pretty spot on.  In the above photograph I think the right-most board is really close to the actual Onondaga sample from Stickley.

I liked that despite there being a number of steps to this finishing schedule, each step is rewarding in that it feels like you're adding something that makes the wood look more beautiful.  Seeing the figure come to life and watching as it gets deeper and more lustrous with each addition is just plain fun.

The Search for a Better Lumber Mill

I’ve been really dissatisfied with the service at the lumber mill I’ve been going to since 2009. I’ve never really had a great experience there. Adequate at best. I think, perhaps, a lot of my feelings stem from the owner not being a woodworker, and it seems like he doesn’t really understand what I’m looking for in lumber for a furniture project. I’m willing to chalk it up to a personality difference and say “It’s not him, it’s me” and leave it at that. He’s an alright guy, and the prices there are good, but I want more than just good prices. I guess I’m looking for a partner that’s going to help bring my furniture projects to the next level.

So I’m about to start my next project and I don’t really want to purchase from the same mill as before. I spent an entire week researching alternatives around the area and online, reading forums and reviews of lumber mills around the country to find out where other furniture makers buy their wood.

Here are the results of my investigations:

Talarico Hardwoods near Philly has, very likely, the absolute best, rarest, old-growth, highly figured Quartersawn White Oak, period, and it's priced accordingly.

Hearne Hardwoods, also near Philly, is where a lot of fine furniture makers get their lumber as they specialize in full flitches (all the boards are from the same tree, kept in their original positions within the tree, organized, catalogued, etc etc etc.)  That, and he has a super wide selection of almost any wood you can think of.

Irion Lumber in Northern Pennsylvania specializes in the woods used in 18th century furniture.

Bell Forest Products has a widespread reputation for being an excellent online lumber seller with a very wide selection and good service, but I find their website a little confusing and I'm not in the habit of buying one board at a time.

Steve Wall Lumber Co. in North Carolina has most often the lowest prices of the 16 mills I looked at for 50% of the species I care about.  Not too shabby!

C.R. Muterspaw in Ohio has a wide selection, an excellent online reputation, they hand-select the boards for your order checking for flaws, color-matching, grain patterns, etc, and they have really good prices.

And Dunham Hardwoods out in Iowa has the best prices on Quartersawn White Oak, they hand-select the boards for your order, checking for flaws, color-matching, grain patterns, etc, and they surface plane down to near-final thickness and joint one edge at no extra charge.

So for the entryway bench & mirror project I chose to give Dunham Hardwoods a try.  Sent them an email and within a few hours Zach Dunham replied, answering my initial data gathering questions. We exchanged 3 or 4 more emails and each time he replied in a timely manner with a fully detailed response, answering every question I had.

Here are the highlights:

• his father, his brother and he own the business and have been doing it for 30 years
• they are woodworkers themselves, so they understand what woodworkers are looking for
• they throw away 10% of their inventory that is technically up to grade and acceptable for sale, but since they wouldn’t want to use it for their own projects, they don’t sell it to their customers
• they touch every board that comes in
• they hand-select boards for your order trying to match color as much as possible.
• if you order quartersawn white oak, he won’t put a board into your pile that has little to no ray flake
• if you ask, he’ll pick out the widest boards he’s got (again, at no extra charge)
• they surface plane every board down to final thickness and joint one edge for no extra charge. This is not hit-or-miss planing. It’s full final thickness planing where it just needs to be finish sanded or hit with a smoothing plane and you’re good to go. 
• You have the option of hit-or-miss planing or rough-cut lumber by walking into their retail store, but for mail orders there’s no price drop for buying rough-cut lumber because Dunham won’t be able to see the boards as well and there’s an increased chance that the customer won’t like what they see and want to return the wood.
• To date, they’ve never had a return.
• He spent 10 minutes on the phone with me going over my cut list asking me at what lengths I’d like him to cut the 10’ boards, 11’ boards, and 12’ boards across the thicknesses I needed to make sure that he didn’t cut them too short for the parts of my project, but also to try to stay under the 5’ mark to avoid the $7.50 UPS surcharge for over-long packages. Again, for no extra cost.

Here’s the amazing part… all of this is $3 more than what it would have cost me to get lower quality, rough cut, ordered-sight-unseen lumber from the mill I’ve been going to…..and that’s after shipping it right to my doorstep!

I compared Dunham Hardwoods along with 14 other lumber mills, getting quotes from all of them. It’s an amazing value, especially when you consider that you’re getting S3S lumber.

So I placed an order for 55bf and received it within 5 days.  Each bundle was carefully wrapped with the ends cushioned with extra cardboard and tape holding the cushions in place. There was no damage from shipping, and the boards look awesome!  The poplar is wider than I expected (in a good way), and clean and check-free. Nice! The Quartersawn White Oak has prettier and more dynamic grain than I’ve ever seen in person before.

Summary

• personable, family-run business
• high level of care and attention even with a small order
• careful hand selection of boards, rough length, widths to serve your woodworking project
• quick and reasonable shipping
• low costs, high quality lumber, beautiful figure, no significant flaws
• every step of the way I’ve been given the royal treatment.

I’ll be buying from Dunham Hardwoods again.